The Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Kathleen Addy, has lamented the continuous neglect of the commission over the years.

According to her, although successive governments have done their part, NCCE is not an institution that has gained the support and attention it needs.

Speaking on JoyNews' AM show on Wednesday, she stated that “it is an institution that has been systematically de-funded over the course of the fourth republic. That is a fact: government in government out; some have done a bit more than others.

"Overall, it is not an institution that has gained the support and attention that is required. At the start of the republic, when the constitution was being put together, the framers had an idea. The idea was ground-breaking, and it was farsighted; the vision was really spectacular and way ahead of its time”.

The NCCE chairperson stated that Ghana's civic education structure is unique compared to other countries.

Mrs Addy noted that the framers of the constitution saw and knew that Ghana was embarking on a democratic journey and needed the right kind of citizens and knowledge to build a republic.

“Because there is no other country, literally, I have been looking, and if somebody finds it, let me know, where we have a civic education institution structured the way ours is. That structure is common for electoral commissions, human rights commissions, media commissions, and even independence, reporting lines but in most places, civic education is not given that kind of place.

“But the framers of our constitution saw and knew that we were embarking on this democratic journey and that we needed the right kind of citizens to build a republic. A republic would not build itself. Democracy would not build itself.

“The constitution is alive because people are living by it and so, it boils down to the people, and they understood that these things have to be taught. Good citizenship, which is the fundamental underpinning of any effective democracy, has to be taught; nobody is born a good citizen, waving a flag and being patriotic. It is taught”, she noted.